Gradburg
World: Gradburg *'Location:' Subsector Meridian *'Type:' Fortress World *'Tithe:' IndustriaMilites Gradburg pays its tithe by building new ships for the Imperial Navy & Merchant Fleets and providing regular regiments to the Imperial Guard. *'Population:' 2.3 Billion 300 000 000 *'Government:' Military Autocracy. As a Fortress World the planet is heavily militarized and its military is considered a part of the Imperial Guard rather than an independent PDF. Therefore the ruler of Gradburg is typically a Lord General of the Imperial Guard, though the Imperial Navy also carries a lot of sway. The current ruler of Gradburg is Lord General Torus Bane, and while he manages most of Gradburg's governance himself the most important decisions are often made in conjunction with Admiral Ona Pelial of the local Navy battlegroup. 'Description' Gradburg was among the second major wave of colonisation that occured in the wake of the Belisarian Reclamation Crusade of M37. The Gradburg system was discovered and claimed by the Imperial Navy Admiral Eran Svorkin - who would become its first governor - and as a result it turned into a Fortress World, something badly needed by the fringe worlds of Subsector Meridian. Rather than develop extensive ground based defences like many fortress worlds, the naval pedigree of the system's first commanders encouraged a more void-based strategy. To this end Gradburg is home to a massive array of orbital defences, the fortress world itself almost smothered by a grid of adamantium stations, dockyards and weapons platforms - known as the Svorkin Line. If anything wanted to seize Gradburg, they must first seize the Svorkin Line. For a long time Gradburg mostly served to train and export regiments elsewhere in the Sector where they were more needed, in addition to fending off occasional threats that emerged from the intersector void. However after the fall of Triot in 152.M41, and the subsequent losses of Esboro and Le Keers, Gradburg and Subsector Meridian was plunged into disarray. Suddenly without Triot's massive industrial support, Gradburg was forced to resist probing attacks from both orknoids & heretics on multiple fronts. Over the decades it has become progressively more pressed as losses of hard-to-replace machinery mount, for Gradburg's own manufacturing capacity is capable only of producing infantry-grade weapons and personal armour. In the modern day, the Gradburgan military (considered a part of the Imperial Guard) faces critical shortages in all types of armoured vehicle and support machine. Though their voidship fleet remains strong these cannot be used to clear ork infestations or eliminate hidden heretic cells, and the increasing dependency on infantry-only forces to perform these tasks sees casualty rates climbing ever higher. As such Gradburg is desperate to receive the support required for a succssful reclamation of Triot, as such a task would be insurmountable for their own stretched & underequipped military. *'Technology:' - Admirable The shipyards are a marvel to behold, and they are among the most productive starcraft building facilities in Sector Deus. Both military and civilian organisations often choose to build their vessels here if they have the resources as acquiring a ship from Nestorium - though cheaper - typically takes decades longer. *'Military:' Gradburg has a large, well disciplined military as befitting a fortress world, and while they are proficient in all spheres of combat they are especially well versed in close quarters urban/voidship combat as they practice maneouvres on the Svorkin Line. Gradburg also has a large system defence fleet of multiple squadrons of defence monitors, and there are always warships of Battlegroup Cryptus/Meridian moored over Gradburg, most notably the Regent-class Orbital Assault Ship ''Tempest'' and often including the Battlegroup flagship Hoplite. *'Strategic:' Maxima As the fortress world and primary naval base in the subsector, Gradburg is the bulwark against the Xenos for the rest of the Sector. *'Loyalty:' 85% The harsh authoritarian regime is good for putting down dissidents, however whenever you destroy one cell two more emerge. There is a growing movement among the millions of shipyard workers that calls for freedom and equality instead of hierarchy and oppression. 'Notable Locations' The surface of Gradburg is fairly typical for a temperate world, with large oceans containing continents and islands of various sizes. As a Fortress World most of Gradburg's major cities are built amongst mountain ranges or upon solid plateaus, and feature a practical - albeit bland - architecture of grey buttressed ferrocrete. *'Valzburg' - The capital city of Gradburg. Valzburg is a bustling ferrocrete metropolis lined with defensive walls and filled with anti-orbital guns, military barracks and (perpetually understrength) air bases. Whilst its primary importance is as the centre of civil and military command for the planet, Valzburg is also home to a large manufacturing industry that primarily produces infantry equipment to help arm Gradburg's vast legions of troops. Valzburg also contains a very large and heavily armoured orbital elevator connected to a defensive station in orbit, and the elevator itself is also studded with gun turrets and defensive positions that have a commanding view over Valzburg's airspace. Notable locations in Valzburg: **'Meridian Keep' - This vast fortress stands in the centre of Valzburg and consists of multiple walled perimeters, each growing in height until reaching the thick central structure. The central structure of Meridian Keep extends half a kilometre into the sky and another half kilometre into the earth, and houses a large amount of Gradburg's military high command. The walls are manned by several regiments of elite Grenadiers, and are studded with heavy gun turrets ranging from Hydra emplacements to turbo lasers. Notable inhabitants: ***'Lord General Torus Bane' - An experienced officer of the Imperial Guard, Bane commands the system's large military and his authority extends to the civilians of Gradburg as well. A man who served on the frontlines during the Fall of Triot, Lord General Bane is haunted by the losses the Subsector has sustained over his life and is determined to put things right before he dies. Lord General Bane and Admiral Pelial are known as close confidantes are are also believed to be lovers. ***'General-Master Gael Zimor' - Gradburg's chief supply officer, in charge of the distribution of equipment both made on Gradburg and delivered to the planet by Administratum tithes. Zimor is desperate to secure more materiel for his world's hard pressed troops but his requests to the Departmento Munitorum are denied repeatedly, the Administratum's cogitators placing little value on the life of a Gradburgan infantryman. Because of this he has resorted to acquiring additional materiel through other means, often by negotiating with other worlds and entities personally to arrange non-tithe trade agreements. **'Valzburg Cathedral' - This formidable armoured cathedral is constructed of a core of armoured ferrocrete covered in a beautiful veneer of gold and plasteel decoration and ornamentation. This is a holy place and military strong point both, and Grenadiers stand alongside Sisters of Battle on its buttresses. As the centre of the Ecclesiarchy on Gradburg Valzburg Cathedral houses the planet's Synod and also has a large school for training military preachers to join Gradburg's troops in battle. Notable inhabitants: ***'Cardinal Pollin Hegre' - Head of the Ecclesiarchy on Gradburg, Cardinal Hegre is an ardent Iron Monk and his cult dominates the planet's Synod. A fiery and determined man, Hegre is immensely popular on Gradburg and the battle preachers he helps to teach can inspire great things from the units they are attached to. ***'Palatine Renee Comeaux' - Commander of the Sisters of Battle stationed in Valzburg Cathedral, numbering a few squads strong. Comeaux is noted as an exceptionally sharp and tacticallly minded Sororitas, attaining her rank at a very young age and expected to progress far. **'Residential Districts' - As the planetary capital Valzburg is home to many of Gradburg's most affluent and notable families, many of whom have proud histories of military service. The residential districts of Valzburg are neat and orderly affairs of thick ferrocrete and armoured towers. Even the more luxurious town manors are more akin to small keeps and forts, their buttresses manned by watchful Dynasty guards and mercenaries. Notable inhabitants: ***'Godson Dynasty' - This major family has a long and illustrious military history in the Imperial Guard, and have earned honours and fame through their deeds across the centuries. They are very popular on Gradburg and it is an open secret that several of the planet's regiments are ferevently loyal to the Godsons. Notable members: ****'General Grendl Godson' - Patriarch of the Dynasty and commanding officer of the 3rd Gradburg Army Group of 25 million soldiers. Grendl is a skilled strategist and earned the Deus Honorifica early in his career as a Major during the Fall of Triot, when he led his battalion from the front in defence of a critical starport on the besieged world. *****'Colonel (ret.) Idrasta Braythorne Godson' - Grendl's wife. Grendl first met Idrasta when she was serving as an Intelligence officer coordinating his regiment with high command. They struck up their relationship and arranged their first date entirely over vox communications from a battlefield. ****'Major General Eliott Godson' - Son of Grendl and commanding officer of the 66th Gradburg Corps of 1 million soldiers. Eliott served in the Brachau Crusade for a century before returning to Gradburg, earning several prestigious honours during his command. *****'Lady Syrana Ann Godson' - Syrana is a beautiful Gradburgan noblewoman whose marriage to Eliott was encouraged by both dynasties. The manufacturing-based Ann Dynasty has given the Godsons more economic security while their link to the Godsons give the Ann Dynasty more social prestige. *****'Colonel Jericho Godson' - Elder son of Eliott and commanding officer of the 1550th Gradburgan Infantry Regiment. Jericho has proven competent in training exercises and small skirmishes within the Gradburg system, but is eager to prove himself in real war and live up to his illustrious name. *****'Major Alexy Godson' - Younger son of Eliott and commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 14th Gradburgan Grenadier Regiment. Alexy is highly skilled in personal combat and battlefield tactics and insisted on passing through officer training and earning a commission normally rather than rely on his family name. Passing officer school with flying colours, Alexy then also passed the punishing trials required to become a Grenadier officer and has climbed up from Lieutenant to Major. Alexy has personally killed innerable orks and is a dangerous combatant. ****'Brigadier General Amara Godson' - Daughter of Grendl and commanding officer of the 144th Gradburgan Support Brigade, a mostly non-combat force optimised for disaster relief and post-war recovery. Amara is known as a kind person who joined the Imperial Guard out of familial loyalty than real personal fervour, and so has been happy to command support units throughout her career. She is also a qualified surgeon and spends much of her time touring the hospitals her Brigade operates to commend the wounded men within - and in fact found her future husband in one of her hospital beds when she was a young officer. *****'Major (ret.) Remus Godson Moett' - Amara's husband, and a lowborn Gradburgan who passed through officer school and served in an Infantry regiment for several decades. Remus was an excellent commander and rose to the rank of Major before he was grievously wounded in combat, losing both his legs above the knee to an ork rokkit. He met Amara in the hospital where she was serving as battalion commander, and they struck up a relationship. They were soon married and Remus' injuries saw him given an honourable discharge. *****'Lieutenant Colonel Morwen Godson' - Amara's eldest daughter and executive officer of the 207th Gradburgan Armoured regiment. Morwen insisted on joining one of Gradburg's precious armoured regiments when she joined the Imperial Guard and though women are typically excluded from combat units & Amara was against her daughter putting herself at such risk, the dynasty reluctantly pulled the strings required. She has since proven to be a sharp and capable tank commander, gradually earning the trust of the men under her command with the care she shows for them. Morwen's tank crews are now fiercely loyal to her, and while some officers believe it unbecoming she enjoys the flattering artworks of her they paint upon their vehicles. *****'Colonel Lana Godson' - Amara's youngest daughter and commander of the 388th Gradburgan Service Regiment. Lana is following in her mother's footsteps and enjoys caring for needy soldiers, and her generally kind soul makes her popular amongst her contemporaries. ***'Levanti Dynasty' - This wealthy family owns large manufacturing holdings in Valzburg's industrial districts, and their factories primarily churn out large amounts of flak armour, lasguns, power packs, and grenades. The necessity of their products allows them to enjoy a position of higher privilege than most noble dynasties, but they have been known to strain the planetary government's tolerance for unacceptable behaviour in the past. ***'Castle Dynasty' - A minor family with a long history of Imperial Guard service. The Castles have a reputation for considerable battlefield heroics and skill in combat, but a lack of the strategic greatness needed to break into the General staff. Nevertheless the Hall of Honours in their town manor is the envy of many, and they have the strong respect of almost every other dynasty on Gradburg. ***'Zarranus Dynasty' - A family of agri lords who also have a tradition of Imperial Guard service. The Zarranuses own vast farmlands to the east of Valzburg and their produce feeds tens of millions of Gradburgan soldiers - affording them a powerful lobby with the government. Several dynasty members also serve as officers in the Gradburgan Imperial Guard, earning them social respect from the people. *'Svorkin Line' - Gradburg's most famous feature, the Svorkin Line is a grid of orbital stations, elevators, docks and shipyards so massive that it can easily be seen from the surface of the planet. This enormous network is an ecosystem unto itself, housing millions of souls and operated like one giant fortress as garrison forces train and operate within while vessels swarm around them moving materiel and supplies between stations. Notable locations in the Svorkin Line: **'Valzburg Station' - Situated above Valzburg and linked to the ground by an enormous heavily armoured orbital elevator. Valzburg station is a purely military installation and is covered in weapons batteries, lances, and torpedo tubes. Tens of thousands of soldiers inhabit Valzburg Station and it is the primary entry point to the entire Svorkin Line for the Gradburgan military. **'Svorkin Shipyards' - Gradburg pays a good chunk of its tithe to the Imperium with voidship production, as well as maintain their own economy on the private sector sale of voidships. To this end the Svorkin Shipyards produce a massive number of voidships, enough to easily rival the Coriolanus Shipyards of Tachion Primaris. As with all shipyards the majority of Svorkin's production consists of transport ships for the merchant fleets, but they also produce a number of escort class warships, primarily Cobra-class Destroyers tithed to the Imperial Navy and Iconoclast-class Raiders for private buyers. The majority of Gradburg's tithe however comes from the construction of capital ships. Svorkin Shipyards has three cruiser-grade drydocks, two of which are devoted to assembling Dauntless-class Light Cruisers. The other drydock assembles full cruisers of as-requested classes. Currently occupying this drydock is the Kallemuth, a Dictator-class Cruiser laid down in 352.M41 and named to commemorate Battlefleet Deus' victory over a Dark Eldar raiding fleet at the Battle of Kallemuth. Her completion is expected in 374.M41. 'Other notable planets in the system' 'Gradburg Ultima' *'World: '''Gradburg Ultima *'Type: Gas Giant *'Tithe: 'Nix *'Population: '''N/A *'Government: 'N/A *'Description: 'Gradburg Ultima is a colossal gas giant planet that dominates the inner half of the Gradburg system. The remnants of a failed binary star, Gradburg Ultima has effectively swept clean the entire inner cauldron of the system and has a massive number of moons and orbital features. Gradburg Ultima and her orbital features are used as a source of raw materials by both imperial and private interests, gas skimmed from the giant's surface and her moons cracked & mined by vast industrial ships. Most of these resources go into the Svorkin Shipyards for voidship production. *'Technology: N/A *'Military:' N/A *'Strategic importance:' Maxima Without this source of raw materials Gradburg's voidship production would suffer a massive hit. Fortunately Gradburg Ultima lies within the inner cauldron, behind Gradburg's defensive line. *'Loyalty: '''N/A 'Gradburg X' *'World: Gradburg X *'Type: '''Agri World *'Tithe: 'Agri Gradburg X provides for most of Gradburg's agri needs. *'Population: '7 million 000 000 *'Government: 'Vassal world. Gradburg X is directly subservient to the Gradburg system governor. A representative of the system government is stationed on Gradburg X permanently. *'Description: A very small world near the outer edges of the system's habitable zone, Gradburg X has long served as a breadbasket for Gradburg itself, her lush climate well adapted for growing crops and rearing cattle. In the decades since the fall of Triot, Gradburg X has fallen victim to repeated attacks by small, roving bands of orknoids, either rok-bound or in ramshackle attack ships. Whilst most of these are destroyed by the system's powerful defence fleet, small rok fragments and landing craft have managed to infest Gradburg X on occasion. Now contaminated by ork spores, Gradburg X must periodically eliminate the ork presence that inevitably rises up every few years. Whilst most of these instances are merely feral and straightforward to eliminate, they can sometimes spiral out of control when the orks start producing more advanced technologies, resulting in all-out bush wars between orknoids and system troops. To make matters even more difficult Gradburg X's delicate ecosystem prohibits the use of mass purifying airstrikes, meaning ork spores must be purged by hand with flamers and incendiary grenades, a difficult prospect for any infantryman. *'Technology:' - Imperial Gradburg X uses simple, reliable technology for agri production. *'Military:' Gradburg X shares the military forces of Gradburg, with many regiments stationed on the Agri world for its defence. *'Strategic importance: 'Media Gradburg X is not the only place Gradburg could secure Agri from, with Giniaria relatively nearby, but laying additional shortages and rationing upon an already strained system could have severe consequences. *'Loyalty: '80% Despite the authoritarian and disciplined regime, the constant orknoid presence wears on the morale of Gradburg X's people. 'Gradmoor' *'World: '''Gradmoor *'Type: Frontier Ice World *'Tithe: 'Nix As a recently colonised planet Gradmoor is still being colonised *'Population: '''Three hundred thousand 000 *'Government: 'Fuedalism Each colony on Gradmoor governs itself. *'Description: 'A dwarf planet that was only recently detected among the nebulae and debris of the Gradburg System's circumstellar disc, Gradmoor was quickly assessed as a desolate, frozen world that would likely prove costly to tame and colonise. As such Gradburg authorities declared it open for private interests to exploit, letting investors and colonists bear the brunt of the cost of setting up critical infrastructure on the desolate world. Though still mostly unexplored with only a few promising colonies set up, early reports suggest Gradmoor may be rich in rarer minerals. *'Technology: - Imperial Only hardy, dependable equipment can be used by the colonists. *'Military:' Most colony's have some kind of security element, though realistically Gradmoor has no effective ground defence. Of course the Gradburg System's Defence fleet will still seek to protect the world from outsiders. *'Strategic importance: 'Minima Gradmoor has potential but at present serves no function. *'Loyalty: '85% 90% The colonists are all drawn from loyal imperial populations, but they are utterly dependent on their colonial backers for support. Category:Subsector Meridian Category:Planet Category:Imperial World Category:Fortress World Category:Serf's Mark